1. Field
Embodiments disclosed herein relate to a dish washing machine including a spray nozzle fixed at one side of a wash tank and a vane disposed or placed to be capable of moving within the wash tank to reflect wash water sprayed from the spray nozzle, toward the dishes.
2. Description of the Related Art
A dish washing machine generally refers to a household or commercial appliance which is used to clean or sanitize objects (e.g., dishes) disposed therein. For example, a dish washing machine may include a main body in which a wash tank is disposed or placed, a basket containing the dishes, a sump configured to store wash water, a spray nozzle configured to spray the wash water, and a pump configured to supply the wash water of the sump to the spray nozzle, and configured to spray the wash water toward the dishes under a high pressure and wash the dishes.
In general, a dish washing machine adopts a rotor-type spray structure having a spray nozzle that rotates. A rotation nozzle may spray wash water while rotating due to a water pressure. Since the rotation nozzle sprays the wash water only within a range of a rotation radius, there may be some regions to which the wash water is not sprayed. Accordingly, a linear spray structure has been proposed to prevent occurrence of the regions to which the wash water is not sprayed.
A linear spray structure may include a fixing nozzle fixed at one side of a wash tank and a vane configured to reflect wash water sprayed from a nozzle spray nozzle, toward the dishes while moving within the wash tank. The linear spray structure may spray the wash water to the entire region of the wash tank according to the movement of a reflection plate.
The fixing nozzle may have a plurality of spray holes arranged in a lateral direction of the wash tank and may be fixed to a side of a rear wall of the wash tank. The vane may extend in the lateral direction of the wash tank to reflect the wash tank sprayed from the plurality of spray holes, and may be disposed or placed to linearly reciprocate (move) in forward and backward directions of the wash tank.
The linear spray structure further may include a driving device capable of driving the vane. The driving device may be embodied in various manners. For example, the driving device may include a motor, a belt connected to the motor to transmit driving force to the vane, and a rail configured to guide movement of the vane, and may be disposed or placed such that when the motor is driven, the vane moves on the rail while rotating the belt.
In terms of a distribution device configured to distribute wash water stored in a sump into spray nozzles, the linear spray structure may need a distribution device having a different structure from a rotor-type spray structure.
When a spray nozzle disposed in a lower portion of a wash tank is a rotation nozzle, an outlet of a distribution device may be disposed or placed in an upward direction so that a length of a flow path connecting the outlet of the distribution device and the rotation nozzle may be reduced, and loss of pressure of wash water may be minimized.
However, when the spray nozzle disposed in the lower portion of the wash tank is a fixing nozzle, since the fixing nozzle is disposed adjacent to a rear wall of the wash tank, the outlet of the distribution device does not need to be disposed or placed upward; rather, when the outlet of the distribution device is disposed or placed upward, a flow path connecting the outlet of the distribution device and the fixing nozzle has to be curved backward as soon as the flow path starts from the outlet of the distribution device. Thus, loss of pressure of wash water may increase.
Meanwhile, since spray nozzles are fixed in the linear spray structure, wash water is distributed only to some of the spray nozzles, thereby enabling a division washing operation of spraying wash water only to a partial region of a wash tank.